Ireland considering country-wide abuse investigation

Ireland's Children's Minister Frances Fitzgerald said inquiry into abuse allegations in dioceses across the country "cannot be ruled out", reports the Irish Independent.

Ireland
July 18, 2011

Catholic Church News Image of Ireland considering country-wide abuse investigation

Ireland's Children's Minister Frances Fitzgerald

Ireland’s Children’s Minister has said that the government may order an examination into how the Catholic Church dealt with sexual abuse allegations in dioceses across the country, in the wake of the Cloyne Report released last week, reports the Irish Independent.

“We don’t want to be carrying out unnecessary investigations, but we have to protect the children,” Mrs Fitzgerald told the newspaper on Sunday.

“You cannot say that what was happening in Cloyne is definitely not happening in other dioceses,” she added.

Separately, The Guardian reports that Northern Ireland’s first police ombudsman and one of its most prominent Catholics has called for an island-wide independent investigation into clerical child abuse.

Lady O’Loan told Radio Ulster Sunday morning that children’s safety came before the cost of any such investigation.

“I think what we need is an independent investigation system which would operate across the island of Ireland which would be funded by the bishops. It would be expensive but it would not be nearly as expensive as having children being abused.”

Her demand carries weight as O’Loan is a devout Catholic and a leading lay figure in the church in Northern Ireland, the report stated.

The Archbishop of Cloyne, Dr Dermot Clifford, issued a written apology on Sunday to all victims of abuse which was read out at masses across the diocese, The Guardian adds.

His letter tells the people of Cloyne that they are entitled to expect that all abuse complaints will be handled according to official church guidelines and he is truly sorry that this has not always been the case.

FULL STORY

All dioceses may face probe by State (Irish Independent)

Northern Ireland police ombudsman in call for clerical child abuse investigation (The Guardian)

RELATED ARTICLES

Irish priests say they will not reveal confession secrets (IrishCentral)

Martin angry over church’s response to abuse (RTE news)

New row between Church and State over ‘privileged’ confessions (The Journal)

Irish priests reject suggestion that they break seal of confession (Catholic News Service)

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http://twitter.com/617patrick Patrick O’Malley

Considering? They have to do that to protect their children against the world’s largest pedophile protection program.

The Catholic church has a world-wide, consistent,
organized approach to concealing rampant child sex abuse by Catholic
priests. In places where it’s
investigated by outsiders – like Philadelphia, Ireland, etc, they’ve found
epidemic child rape and criminal cover up.

To see how bad it still is in 2011 in the US, Google
“Philadelphia district attorney grand jury report” and read just the
first 6 pages. The perverted sex with
children, and the organized cover up are horrifying.

It’s organized crime, and should be investigated and
prosecuted in the US using RICO statutes.
Unlike the mafia, it’s not the primary job of the church to commit these
crimes, but there’s no question that they committed thousands of child sex
crimes in the United States alone, and covered it up in criminal fashion,
although they knew the laws well enough to outlast the statute of limitations.

This makes them an organized crime institution, and they
should be investigated like the mafia.

The fact that they continue to ignore or fight the
victims, and the fact that they continue to lie and mislead their sheepish
congregation makes them a horrible church.
God made the laws so simple, yet Catholic priests and bishops don’t
follow them, and their congregation can’t figure that out.

Elsewhere in the world, Amnesty International and others
should use their power to sue the Vatican.